2017 In Review

My consolation in having so few completely finished quilts this year is that quilting was not the only interest and emphasis for me.  Maybe I'll make more quilts this year, or maybe not....  So, this is a review of my 2017 applique and quilting efforts.

Completely Finished Quilts  (only four)
 
A Blue Plaid Linen Shirt was the backing for this little patriotic quilt.

The green/blue Buckeye Beauty was The Ugliest Quilt of the year.  But it's done!

My favorite quilt of 2017 was this really scrappy one, made of leftovers from another quilt.

A dozen blocks (also leftovers over from another, larger quilt) became one small quilt - large enough to cover legs, small enough to wrap a baby or toddler.

Interim Finishes (as in, finished blocks, finished tops, etc.)

I devoted time to choosing fabrics, pattern pieces, and appliqueing these Cheri Payne Baskets of Plenty sew-along blocks which are currently awaiting a decision on layout, sashing, and borders.  (Poor, late-night phone photo.  Don't bother to enlarge.)

My Gwenny-inspired Medallion quilt top received its final border with appliqued vines and stars.  It has yet to be layered and quilted.

This very red/pink Buckeye Beauty is finished to the top stage.  This is a sister to the ugliest quilt, above.  I like this one much better.

Most Viewed Posts in reverse order, least viewed to most viewed
> A Finish, Compared to...
> Baskets of Plenty #7:  Cheeky Bird
> Baskets of Plenty Block 2, Choosing for Block 3
> The Ugliest Quilt
> First Basket of Plenty, Finished

Posts with Most Comments in reverse order, least comments to most comments
> Albino Crow, Strong West Wind tied with When Does a Project Become a UFO?
> Back to Scrap Squares
> Wrestling
> The Ugliest Quilt
> A Scrappy Finish

Truly, this was a little year on the quilting front.  Three of the complete finishes had been in progress for a while and only one was new, so I was pleased to have finished three UFOs.  In 2018 I hope to quilt several tops that have been waiting and start and finish several quilts at least to the flimsy stage.

I'm linking this post to Cheryl's Best of 2017 Linky Party at Meadow Mist Designs.  Click through to see other quilters' best of in 2017.  Thanks for hosting, Cheryl.

I wish you all the best to you in 2018!

--Nancy.

The Ugliest Quilt

It's finished and I think it is the ugliest quilt I've ever made.  Or maybe it's the only ugly quilt I've ever made:  I can't remember any other ugly quilts, or at least not any others I truly dislike.

I liked the idea for this quilt, a Buckeye Beauty, when I saw it in Lynn Roddy Brown's book, Patchwork Play Quilts.  Her version was fun and inviting, but when I made blocks and began playing they just didn't work.  My blocks were multi-colored like hers but together they looked like a jumble.  I separated them into blues/greens/browns and reds/oranges/golds/warm colors for two separate quilts.  That didn't help much but I wasn't ready to throw out the blocks.  All that work!  The only thing to do (in my mind) was persist and finish.  (If you're interested you can see progress posts of this quilt at It's About Value, Busy Buckeye Beauty, and Buckeye Beauty Block Play.)

I quilted with three strands of embroidery.  I found it hard to pull the threads through and they occasionally tangled, but using larger stitches meant the quilt finished more quickly than if I'd used regular quilting thread and smaller stitches.  A bonus for a quilt I didn't like.

I dislike this quilt so much that I hardly kept records for it.  I'm not sure what batting I used (probably Soft n Crafty 80 cotton/20 poly) and I didn't record sizes from beginning to end or dates when I began/ended steps as I usually do.  The only measurements are after quilting (56 3/8 " x 68 7/16") and after washing and drying (54 3/4" x 66 1/4").

I try to identify why I don't like this quilt.  I love to see diagonals and secondary patterns in quilts, both of which appear in this quilt but that's not enough for me to love it.  Perhaps it's the angularity of the blocks.  They don't look welcoming to me, almost like flashes of lightening.  And even though there's a rhythm, the quilt itself seems jumbly.  I think of this as a masculine quilt, perhaps because of the strong, sharp angles.  Maybe some boy will love it.

I learned three lessons from this quilt:

1. If you (speaking to myself) don't love it while making it, either learn to love it or pass on the blocks, because if you can't love it, you won't take as much care with it as a quilt you love.
2. When the middle of a quilt measures longer/wider than the edges, bind with the edge measurements.
3. Come up with my own ideas and make my own quilts.  Don't attempt to make a version of someone else's quilt unless I truly love-love-love it and can repeat every aspect of it, including fabric choices or unless I can "see" it some other way.

The best thing I can say for this quilt is it's done.  Now I just have to find a new home for it.  One of my grandsons?

Have you ever made a quilt you didn't like or that you would describe as ugly?  If so, what did you do with it?

I'm linking this post to
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts and
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
> TGIFF @ Kathy's Kwilts and More
> finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts 
Thank you for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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Stitching a Binding - Slow Sunday Stitching

If I have a few quiet moments today I'll begin stitching this binding in place.

I'm so glad to have finished the quilting -- big stitch with 3 strands of embroidery floss.  Maybe I won't do that again. 

The border on the front of this quilt is two different green fabrics.  The back of the quilt has four or five different greens.  And now the binding is five different greens, only one of which is on the front or back of the quilt.  It's a scrappy quilt so all the greens should be fine together.  At least I hope they will.

When you choose binding for a quilt do you tend to choose a fabric and color to go with the front of the quilt or the back of the quilt? 

I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Thanks for hosting, Kathy.

And for the Sabbath, one of my favorite hymns, "I Believe in Christ."



       I believe in Christ; he is my King!
       With all my heart to him I’ll sing;
       I’ll raise my voice in praise and joy,
       In grand amens my tongue employ.
       I believe in Christ; he is God’s Son.
       On earth to dwell his soul did come.
       He healed the sick; the dead he raised.
       Good works were his; his name be praised.

       I believe in Christ; oh blessed name!
       As Mary’s Son he came to reign
       ’Mid mortal men, his earthly kin,
       To save them from the woes of sin.
       I believe in Christ, who marked the path,
       Who did gain all his Father hath,
       Who said to men: “Come, follow me,
       That ye, my friends, with God may be.”

       I believe in Christ—my Lord, my God!
       My feet he plants on gospel sod.
       I’ll worship him with all my might;
       He is the source of truth and light.
       I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.
       From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,
       And I shall live with joy and love
       In his eternal courts above.

       I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!
       From him I’ll gain my fondest dream;
       And while I strive through grief and pain,
       His voice is heard: “Ye shall obtain.”
       I believe in Christ; so come what may,
       With him I’ll stand in that great day
       When on this earth he comes again
       To rule among the sons of men.

Happy Sabbath to you.

--Nancy.

Hand Quilting with Embroidery Floss

I'm hand quilting this green and blue Buckeye Beauty with embroidery floss -- a scrappy combination of greens and blues, just like the fabric in the quilt.  My floss box is overflowing with skeins bought through the years and left unused.  Why not put some of it into a quilt!

I've spent several years hand quilting with thread, decreasing my needle length over the years, practicing for small, regular stitches.  (With limited and slow success, I might add.)

But now with a longer needle and bigger thread it seems just as impossible to make long, even stitches.

I'm outlining the triangles a quarter inch (more or less) from their edges and stitching diagonally across the small squares.

About quilting with embroidery floss:  a needle with three strands does not pull through as easily as I thought it would.  And it tends to tangle toward the end.  I'm not ready to judge against it yet, though.  Maybe I need to knot the other end....  I thought about waxing it but then wondered about getting beeswax on the fabric and whether that would spread and/or stain.  I also thought about using two strands instead of three but since I've been using three, I'll continue with three for this quilt.  I'll write more about hand quilting with floss when I've had more experience with it.

I finished cutting triangles and squares for 32 more red Buckeye Beauty blocks.

I've sewn the first seam in the squares and triangles on about half the blocks.  Sew, press, pin, stitch, press again and they'll all get done.  I'm looking forward to laying them out to see what a red/pink/coral/burgundy/rose quilt will look like.

I'm linking this post to
> Let's Bee Social #164 at Sew Fresh Quilts
> WOW at Esther's Blog
> Midweek Makers #59 at Quilt Fabrication
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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An Ambivilant Relationship

I have an ambivalent relationship with pieced quilt backings.  Well, it's more with the making, layering, and quilting of them than with pieced backs on finished quilts.

For a scrappy quilt, I can't think of a better back than a pieced one, especially with well-chosen fabrics.

For a scrappy quilt, I can't think of a more difficult back than a pieced one, even with well-chosen fabrics.  It is almost like making a second quilt except with larger pieces.  There's all that cutting, squaring, sewing, and pressing to be sure the pieces lay flat.  Not to mention the jigsaw aspect of getting all the pieces to fit together.  Then, one wants the straight lines to be parallel with the edges of the quilt which requires plenty of care to align the quilt (without being able to see the back and top adjacent to each other because there's a layer of batting between).  And if you're a hand quilter there are those extra seams to contend with and quilt through.

And yet, I usually go with a scrappy back because I have plenty of fabric and will never use all of it before I die unless I begin using it for more than quilt blocks -- even large blocks with large pieces.  And I like how they look when finished.

This back (above) is not exactly symmetrical but almost.  I tried to carefully align the back and front so no long seams were aligned and so that the dark green center was centered on the quilt.  But I won't really know how it came out until I've finished quilting it and cut away the edges.

I intend to use embroidery floss for the hand quilting.  I have it on good authority that three strands are sturdy, durable, and quilt easily.  I hope that's true for me, too.

It's been a few months since I've pulled needle and thread through a quilt in a hoop.  I'm looking forward to hand quilting a few minutes every morning or when I sit to watch TV or visit.

As far as my ambivalence toward pieced backs?  If this quilt back turns out well, I'll be one step closer to loving them.

I'm linking this post to
Moving It Forward Monday at Em's Scrap Bag
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts
Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.
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There It Is

The green and blue Buckeye Beauty top is finished. 

Two of the things I've learned from this quilt are that not every quilt will be beautiful, stunning, and/or fabulous, and that I won't love every quilt I make.  Some quilts will just be quilts and I will be ambivalent about them.  This is one of the latter and I'm fine with that.  It may keep a child warm on a winter's night.  It may keep someone's bottom clean at a picnic.  And it may be a fine spot for a baby to play before he or she crawls.  It will be a serviceable quilt.

All that being said, there are some things I do like about this quilt:  the secondary patterns that are created by the placement of lights and darks and the arrangement of the blocks.  It has two strong diagonals and also a checkerboard where the blocks meet.  I think those create a lot of visual interest.  I have a dozen or more blocks in reds.  I'll make more and play with that color range.  (I like reds better than greens and much better than blues.)

You may also notice that not all sides of the outer border are the same fabric.  I ran out and substituted.  It is, after all, a scrap quilt!  Several blocks have more than one green or more than one blue fabric, too.

My One Monthly Goal for January was to make more blocks and then play with layouts.  I surpassed that goal by sewing them together and adding borders, so I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal - January Goal Finish Linkup at Elm Street Quilts.

On to the next goal.

I'm also linking this post to
> Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
> finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
> Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Thank you, ladies, for hosting.

--Nancy.
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